Staphylococcus aureus is a major human pathogen frequently causing serious infectious diseases and food poisoning. Its treatment becomes more and more difficult because of emerging antibiotic resistant strains. Endolysins from phages infecting Staphylococcus aureus have been shown to potentially control these pathogens to a certain extent and can be used for their specific detection. In most cases, major obstacles in the application of endolysins targeting Staphylococcus species are low enzyme activity, difficult production in large quantities and/or protein stability.
Accordingly, there is still a need for new antimicrobials with improved characteristics on for example antimicrobial activity and/or stability.